When someone asks me to recommend a bottle of wine, there are three questions I want answered before I start suggesting labels.
And no, “red or white?” isn’t the first one.
That question can certainly matter. But it tells me very little about what would make a wine genuinely right for someone.
Recommending wine isn’t about demonstrating how many producers or appellations I know.
It’s about understanding what someone actually needs.
1. What’s the occasion?
Are we choosing something for a relaxed dinner with friends? A wedding anniversary? A gift for someone who loves wine? Or perhaps a few bottles to start building a personal collection?
These situations call for different approaches.
Imagine a Tuesday evening with friends, homemade pasta and good conversation. You probably want something enjoyable, versatile and easy to share. A wine that complements the evening rather than demands everyone’s attention.
Now imagine an anniversary dinner, with a carefully planned menu and a bottle you’ve been looking forward to opening.
The wine may play a very different role.
Neither occasion is more deserving of a good bottle. But what makes the bottle appropriate has changed.
Food matters, too.
A delicate fish dish, a rich mushroom risotto and a heavily spiced curry all present different pairing considerations. Acidity, sweetness, tannin, body and flavour intensity can influence how a wine interacts with the food.
And sometimes the best choice is something unexpected.
The goal isn’t to enforce rigid pairing rules. It’s to understand the experience you’re trying to create.
The occasion gives the recommendation its purpose.
2. What do you actually enjoy?
This is where I think wine recommendations often go wrong.
People are sometimes encouraged to buy wines because a critic praised them, a particular vintage is highly sought-after, or the bottle carries an impressive name.
But none of that tells me whether you’ll enjoy drinking it.
Perhaps you love bright, fresh reds and find heavily oaked wines overwhelming.
Perhaps you enjoy full-bodied whites, or sparkling wines with plenty of texture.
Maybe you haven’t developed a clear preference yet.
That’s perfectly fine.
You don’t need specialist vocabulary to describe what you like.
You can tell me that you enjoy wines that feel fresh rather than heavy, that you prefer fruit-forward flavours, or that you dislike the drying sensation some red wines leave in your mouth.
These descriptions are useful.
In wine terms, we might translate them into acidity, body, tannin, sweetness or oak influence.
But the terminology is secondary.
What’s important is building a picture of your preferences.
And I don’t believe those preferences should become permanent restrictions.
Someone who says they dislike Chardonnay might have encountered only a few heavily oaked examples. A fresh, unoaked Chardonnay could offer a completely different experience.
Someone convinced they don’t enjoy red wine might simply not have found the right style yet.
A good recommendation respects what you already enjoy while leaving room for discovery.
Your palate matters more than somebody else’s approval.
3. What’s your budget?
This question should be completely normal.
Unfortunately, wine has a habit of making people feel uncomfortable discussing money.
As though choosing a €20 bottle instead of a €100 bottle says something about your taste, knowledge or appreciation.
It doesn’t.
If your budget is €20–30, that’s where the search should begin.
Not at €60, followed by an explanation of why you should really spend more.
There can be excellent wines at many price points. Naturally, price affects what’s available, and some exceptional wines carry substantial costs.
But spending more is not automatically the same as choosing better.
A thoughtfully selected €25 bottle can bring more pleasure than a celebrated €100 wine that doesn’t suit the person drinking it.
Equally, if you’re celebrating something extraordinary and want to explore a special bottle, there may be good reasons to spend considerably more.
The important thing is understanding what that additional money buys you.
Greater complexity? Rarity? Ageing potential? A producer you’ve always wanted to experience?
Or simply a recognisable name?
My job isn’t to make you spend more.
It’s to find something worth drinking within the budget that makes sense for you.
What these three answers tell me
Let’s put this into practice.
You’re organising a Saturday dinner for a few friends.
Roast chicken, mushrooms and potatoes are on the menu. You enjoy lighter red wines with freshness and don’t particularly like pronounced oak flavours. Your budget is around €25–35 per bottle.
Already, we have something useful to work with.
A fresh style of Pinot Noir or Gamay could be worth exploring, depending on the producer and the precise preparation of the food.
But I’d still want to consider what’s available, whether the wine is ready to drink and what distinguishes the individual bottle.
A recommendation isn’t complete simply because we’ve selected a grape variety.
The producer, vintage, style and context make the difference.
And a thoughtful recommendation should explain why the wine fits, rather than just presenting a list of impressive names.
Good wine advice should make you more confident
Ultimately, I want someone receiving a recommendation to understand the decision.
Why this bottle?
What should you expect from it?
Why might it work with your dinner?
What alternative could you consider if the first choice isn’t available?
The answers are often more valuable than a score or an elaborate tasting description.
Because once you begin to understand the reasoning, choosing wine becomes less intimidating.
You start recognising the styles you enjoy, the producers you want to follow and the regions you’re curious to explore next.
That’s also why Wines&Joy approaches advisory as a personal service, not a catalogue of bottles to sell.
The recommendations begin with your needs, not with an inventory that someone needs to move.
And where there’s a commercial connection or interest in a producer, that should be disclosed clearly.
The best bottle is the one that fits
There will always be another prestigious label, another highly rated vintage and another expensive bottle competing for attention.
But good wine advice doesn’t begin there.
It begins with a conversation about the person who will drink it.
What’s the occasion?
What do you actually enjoy?
What’s your budget?
Three simple questions.
Often, they’re enough to turn an overwhelming choice into an exciting discovery.
The best bottle isn’t necessarily the most expensive. It’s the one that fits you and your moment.
Need help finding it? Explore Wines&Joy’s independent wine advisory.